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Minn. pastor Hammond backing Bachmann again

A Minnesota evangelical pastor once
criticized for endorsing Michele Bachmann's congressional campaign
from his church pulpit now plans to work for her presidential
campaign.

Mac Hammond is pastor of Living Word Christian Center in
Brooklyn Park. He told his congregation Sunday that he and his wife
would campaign with Bachmann, and that he may chair a national
faith council for her campaign.

"She is a sister in the Lord that is as committed to his word
as any of you in here are," Hammond told the congregation,
according to a recording posted on his church's website. A
spokesman for Living Word said Monday that Hammond was traveling
and not available for an interview.

In 2006, Bachmann spoke at Living Word as a candidate for the
congressional seat she now holds. She detailed her own religious
beliefs, saying God had called her to running for Congress and
calling herself "a fool for Christ." Hammond endorsed her
candidacy that day, prompting the Citizens for Ethics and
Responsibility in Washington to file a complaint with the IRS that
he had violated the church's tax-exempt status.

Hammond later apologized, and the IRS did not investigate. But
the controversy triggered a broader IRS investigation into Living
Word's finances, which a court ultimately shut down when it ruled
the church did not have to turn over financial documents.

Hammond is a preacher of what's known as the prosperity gospel,
which teaches that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly
riches. He told his congregation Sunday that he's been Bachmann's
"personal pastor" for some time. "Everybody needs a pastor," he
said.

A spokesman for Bachmann's campaign did not immediately return a
call seeking comment.

Hammond noted that work for Bachmann would "be done on a
personal basis. As a church, we can't formally endorse a particular
candidate," he said - a fact that he went on to bemoan.

"For centuries, politicking was done in the local church,"
Hammond said. "And pastors and ministers had the responsibility of
illuminating which candidates were most closely aligned with God's
word."

Hammond said in addition to traveling with Bachmann for campaign
appearances, he might head up an entity for the Bachmann campaign
that he referred to a her "National Faith and Family Council."

Hammond said he already made at least one campaign appearance
for Bachmann. He introduced her on Friday in Nashville, at a
gathering of more than 200 pastors and faith leaders.